Your Brain On Coffee | Effing Love Science, Coffee

Caffeine, the main stimulant found in coffee, works on a chemical level to give you a boost of energy. But how does the whole process actually work scientifically, and why do some people need more coffee to stay awake than others? This video from AsapSCIENCE breaks it down.

On the chemical level, caffeine is structurally similar to adenosine, a chemical that makes us sleepy. When we drink coffee, caffeine binds to our brain’s adenosine receptors, preventing the chemical from binding with the receptors and making us tired. For those of us who regularly drink coffee in copious amounts, our brains develop more adenosine receptors, so it takes more coffee to keep us awake. That also helps explain why we turn into exhausted monsters when we try to wean ourselves off of coffee, as having more adenosine receptors means more adenosine makes its way into our brains.